Don't know if anyone else saw this but I watched "Seven Ages of Starlight" on BBC Four last night.
This is the epic story of the stars, and how discovering their tale has transformed our own understanding of the universe.
Once we thought the sun and stars were gods and giants. Now we know, in a way, our instincts were right. The stars do all have their own characters, histories and role in the cosmos. Not least, they played a vital part in creating us.
There are old, bloated red giants, capable of gobbling up planets in their orbit, explosive deaths - supernovae - that forge the building blocks of life and black holes, the most mysterious stellar tombstones. And, of course, stars in their prime, like our own sun.
Leading astronomers reveal how the grandest drama on tonight is the one playing above our heads.
It was actually really interesting (if you don't know this stuff already) and was brilliant to watch with Elite in mind because all this stuff (with the exception of Supernovae) is out there in the game, looking exactly like it does in this programme.
Now on my TODO list ...
Visit Arctrus (Red Giant)
Visit Sirius B (White Dwarf hidden behind Sirius A)
Visit Crab pulsar
Anyway, still on iPlayer at time of posting if anyone's interested.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00yb434
This is the epic story of the stars, and how discovering their tale has transformed our own understanding of the universe.
Once we thought the sun and stars were gods and giants. Now we know, in a way, our instincts were right. The stars do all have their own characters, histories and role in the cosmos. Not least, they played a vital part in creating us.
There are old, bloated red giants, capable of gobbling up planets in their orbit, explosive deaths - supernovae - that forge the building blocks of life and black holes, the most mysterious stellar tombstones. And, of course, stars in their prime, like our own sun.
Leading astronomers reveal how the grandest drama on tonight is the one playing above our heads.
It was actually really interesting (if you don't know this stuff already) and was brilliant to watch with Elite in mind because all this stuff (with the exception of Supernovae) is out there in the game, looking exactly like it does in this programme.
Now on my TODO list ...
Visit Arctrus (Red Giant)
Visit Sirius B (White Dwarf hidden behind Sirius A)
Visit Crab pulsar
Anyway, still on iPlayer at time of posting if anyone's interested.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00yb434
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